The slide bearing is utilized as, for example, a crank bearing for supporting a crankshaft of an engine. A typical crank bearing is configured by a combination of a semicircular upper bearing and a semicircular lower bearing. The upper bearing is provided with an oil hole for supplying engine oil in the engine main body to an oil clearance, which is a space between the crank bearing and a crank journal, and an oil groove for permitting the engine oil supplied to the oil clearance through the oil hole to flow in the circumferential direction of the crank bearing.
However, in the conventional crank bearing, since the oil groove is formed to connect one of matching surfaces of the upper bearing to the other matching surface, the lubricity of the crank bearing is reduced as the amount of the engine oil that flows out of the oil clearance is increased. Thus, Patent Document 1 proposes the following crank bearing. That is, in the upper bearing of the crank bearing disclosed in Patent Document 1, both ends of the oil groove are formed to become end at positions circumferentially inward from the matching surfaces.
However, in the engine provided with the crank bearing disclosed in Patent Document 1, since a large amount of foreign matter is retained in the oil groove, there is high possibility of damaging the crank bearing or damaging a bearing supporting the connecting rod. Thus, there is a need for a crank bearing that reduces the amount of the engine oil that flows out of the oil clearance while inhibiting damage caused by foreign matter. Such a problem is not limited to the crank bearing of the engine, but may arise in any slide bearing that is divided into a pair of semicircular bearing bodies and supports a rotary shaft with lubricant.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-249024